Senior Little League 16s: Lowell 10, Hebron 6

2006 JUNIOR LITTLE LEAGUE all-stars district playoffs
14s - District II double-elimination at Lowell Little League

Hessville 10, DeMotte 2; Hebron 10, CEDAR LAKE - 0
Hessville 7, LOWELL 6; DeMotte 12, CEDAR LAKE 1

Hessville 13, Hebron 1

7-11-6 (Tu) LOWELL vs. DeMotte
7-13-6 (Th) LOWELL or DeMotte vs. Hebron

7-15-6 (Sat) Hessville (3-0) vs. LOWELL, DeMotte or Hebron
7-16-6 (Sun) Hessvillle (3-0) vs. LOWELL, DeMotte or Hebron (if necessary)

Roselawn 8, CEDAR LAKE 5; LOWELL 10, Hebron 6
DeMotte 7, Roselawn 3; LOWELL 22, Wheatfield 5

7-11-6 (Tu) CEDAR LAKE vs. Hebron
7-12-6 (W) DeMotte vs. LOWELL - 8 p.m.
7-15-6 (Th) CEDAR LAKE or Hebron vs. Wheatfield

7-15-6 (Sa) LOWELL or DeMotte vs. CEDAR LAKE, Hebron or Wheatfield
7-16-6 (Sun) LOWELL or DeMotte vs. CEDAR LAKE, Hebron or Wheatfield

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Hebron (0-1)	0	2	0	1	0	1	2	6	4	4
LOWELL (1-0)	1	1	1	4	3	0	-	10	14	4

Monday, July 10, 2006 Senior Little League (age 16 & under) All-Stars, 78-degrees in Lowell

WP - Ted Macis (1-0) 7Ks, 3 walks (6.7)
LP - Andrew Shrum (0-1) CG, 4K, 2 walks

Hebron (0-1)
Peter Owen (CF) HR, walk, 2 RBIs
Wayne Straka (2B) Single, RBI
Bobby Ryder (LF) Single, RBI, stolen base

LOWELL (1-0)
Ted Macis (P-SS) HR, single, RBI
Kevin Donovan (SS-P) Triple, 2 singles, 4 RBIs
Justin Juarez (3B) Double, single
Ricky Dotson (C) 2 singles, Bunt Sac.
Eric Roadruck (CF) 2 singles, 2 runs scored
Josh Manis (2B) Single, walk, 2 steals
Josh LoFrano (LF) Double, RBI

LOWELL (7-10-2006) It's become expected now for the Lowell Senior Little League all-stars to advance beyond the opening round of play and that puts some pressure on the team playing on its own home field. But in sports, you are supposed to like pressure. Lowell's 16-and-under Little League all-stars wiggled by that opening game and then seemed to hit their stride in the the district playoffs last week.

Lowell used a four-run fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie and beat Route 2 rival Hebron 10-6 Monday and followed it up with a healthy 22-5 win over Wheatfield in the second round. If the Lowell 16s beat DeMotte late Wednesday night, they would play for the District title Saturday afternoon.

"I thought we need to work on a couple of things defensively," said manager Paul LoFrano after the win over Hebron. "But we made up for them with our hitting. We should beat everyone else here. Hebron was the team we were worried about. Our team (the team he manages) 10-runned everyone lese here during the regular season."

Hebron caused some concern in the early going as power hitter Peter Owen launched a two-run homer over the left center field fence at the Creek Side Little League in the second inning, erasing a 1-0 Lowell lead. Josh LoFrano's RBI double tied the game against Hebron right-hander Andrew Shrum and the game was tied 3-3 when Ricky Dotson scored on a n error by Hebron shortstop Eric Elliott. Kevin Donovan, the only returning player off last year's state finalist 16-and-under squad, then lined an extra base hit between the outfielders, scoring Ted Macis and Eric Roadruck for a 6-3 Lowell lead.

Hebron scored an unearned run in the sixth and strung together three hits in the seventh inning, but they were never close in the late going. Donovan, who did not pitch much during the high school season because of arm trouble, came on to get the final out for winning pitcher Ted Macis.

"I asked him how he was," said LoFrano. "And he said he was done. He did a good job for us. He just got tired there at the end."

The Lowell 16s are a physically talented group, but it's hard to tell exactly what they'll do if they, as is now expected, advance beyond the first round.

In the early going, they are allowing a few too many runs but all star play changes once Lowell gets out of the tree-lined Creek Side park, which is a small field for 16 year olds.

"I think they know they have to concentrate," said LoFrano, "and I thought we did that today. These guys are a bunch of characters. But I thought they were into the game today. I've coached these guys at every level. I know them pretty well."

Lowell's Junior Little League stars needed to come from behind in their quest for a District title after being upset 7-6 by Hessville in opening round play. If the Lowell 14s survived the loser's bracket, they faced the prospect of having to beat the Hessville all-stars twice this weekend or be eliminated on their home field. Hessville was the tournament's surprise, bombing DeMotte 10-2, edging Lowell and spanking Hebron 13-1. With Hessville's domination of the 10-and-under bracket in Cedar Lake, indications are the Hammond league is on the rise again, which would add much needed strength to the junior and senior Little league brackets.

SENIOR NOTES: With a very warm weekend expected, the ball figures to fly out of the Creek Side Little League, which is a level down from the Lowell Little League and VFW complex at the north end of town. That usually favors the home team.

Hammond has Babe Ruth and Senior Little League which dilutes the talent pool on both teams. Hammond was eliminated in all three Babe Ruth age groups (13, 14 and 15) at the local level. Lowell does not have Babe Ruth baseball, but Lowell resident Derek Brandenberg is playing with Crown Point's undefeated Babe Ruth age-15 all-stars who have advanced to Friday's Babe Ruth state finals in LaPorte. The CP Babe Ruth 15s went 3-0 last week winning all games by 10 runs or more.

Lowell has an unusually large team with several boys standing 5-10 or taller and others like Kevin Donovan, Justin Juarez and Danny Remboski who are much larger than they were in 2005.

"We just come by it naturally," said manager Paul LoFrano. "But we do have some size. Everybody got big."

The Lowell 16s could have a problem with success, although they would welcome it. When the Lowell Senior Little League won the state title and went to the Midwest Regional in Peru, Ill, they had only Ryan King and Jon Cap as football players. Half of the 2006 Senior Little League team are also football team members and some, like Danny Remboski, are expected to start for the defending Class 4A state champs. So if they were to win the state title, football players who wanted to go to the Midwest regional in Peru (Aug. 5-12) would miss the preseason scrimmage against Clark on Aug. 12. The Junior Little League Regional is in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Aug. 5-12, but junior Little Leaguers (ages 13-14) would not yet be varsity football players.

Lowell Senior Little League (age 16 & under) all-stars beat Hebron, 10-6